The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 95, 729-733, Copyright © 1988 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Ventricular aneurysms and other lesions produced by the struts of bioprosthetic valves implanted in sheep
M Jones, EE Eidbo, ER Rodriguez, VJ Ferrans and RE Clark
Surgery Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Damage to the posterolateral wall of the left ventricle was found in eight
of approximately 700 sheep undergoing mitral valvular replacement as part
of animal model studies of bioprosthetic valves. The damage consisted of
left ventricular aneurysms in five animals, subacute rupture of the left
ventricle in one, acute left ventricular laceration in one, and endocardial
scarring in one. Six of the eight bioprostheses were bovine pericardial
valves, including five low-profile valves and one standard valve; of the
two porcine bioprostheses, one was intentionally oversized and the other
was a low-profile supra-annular valve. In each of these animals the damage
appeared to have been caused by contact between the most posterior strut of
the bioprosthesis and the left ventricular wall.
